World of pharma marketing
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Design Philosophy
I like to think of Design as a team sport. My role as a designer is not to be the sole creator, the person with all the ideas. I might have some to bring, but the key is to get the process and the structure to the work so that a larger team can be inspired and contribute to the development of the Design.
This team is not just a group of designers within a company. The team consists of those who invest in the product, bring the design to reality, and, importantly, those who will buy and use it. It’s too easy for Design to become a specialized silo in the more extensive engineering process and bringing products to market. As a designer, it’s my job to intentionally connect all the people who care about the product to collaborate on its Design.
Design Process
Research
This may be the most crucial step of the design process. Before jumping into a project, it is important to establish its long-term goals. Why are we doing this? Who will benefit from this? How will this provide a better user experience? To answer these questions, we can create personas, journey maps, task flows, site maps, user interviews, mind maps, and surveys.
The main question: What are we trying to do and why?
Analysis
After gathering the initial research, the project team works collectively to identify specific individual needs from the research and then have conversations about business and user needs. Getting the entire team involved at this stage helps set the scope for the product and ensures alignment.
The main question: How might we get to where we want to go?
Ideation
Once we know our goals and have a roadmap, setting up a design sprint with the larger design team is often beneficial. Design sprints can validate ideas and allow for quick initial test runs through an experience. Collective group brainstorming is a compelling way to do this. I like to start brainstorming with physical pens, paper, markers, and whiteboards. Once I have worked through ideas, I start prototyping digital wireframes to validate the framework.
The main question: Are we doing this right?
Implementation
Once the prototype has been locked, development starts. During this process, it is essential to have ongoing check-ins with the development teams. From dogfooding to A/B testing flights, it is important to monitor progress and be available to make design edits that may need to be made along the way. As development happens, we can start on the next version of the design.
The main question: How can we push ahead together?
Design
Once the wireframes have been tested and validated, I jump into hi-fi designs. In this phase, I explore color psychology to understand how to match the visuals to what we want users to feel when using the product. UX writers help me to get the appropriate tone for the product. I create mood boards and come up with a set of visual explorations. When working with other designers, I align with them initially on designs and create a consistent and uniform tone and experience, then exchange feedback along the way.
The main question: How can we push ahead together?
Feedback
Once we have a working prototype, we can conduct user testing to validate the Design. Does it solve the problems we were aiming to solve? Does it meet our business goals? Did we discover areas of exploration for a future version?
The main question: What does "done" look like?